Global Software Development: Virtualization and Coordination

Technology and organizations co-evolve, as is illustrated by the growth of information and communication technology (ICT) and global software engineering (GSE). Technology has enabled the development of innovations in GSE. The literature on GSE has emphasized the role of the organization at the expense of technology. This book explores the role of technology in the evolution of globally distributed software engineering.

To date, the role of the organization has been examined in coordinating GSE activities because of the prevalence of the logic of rationality (i.e., the efficiency ethos, mechanical methods, and mathematical analysis) and indeterminacy (i.e., the effectiveness ethos, natural methods, and functional analysis). This logic neglects the coordination role of ICT. However, GSE itself is an organizational mode that is technology-begotten, technology-dominated, and technology-driven, as is its coordination. GSE is a direct reflection of ICT innovation, change, and use, yet research into the role technology of GSE has been neglected.

Global Software Engineering: Virtualization and Coordination considers existing fragmented explanations and perspectives in GSE research, poses new questions about GSE, and proposes a framework based on the logic of virtuality (i.e., creativity ethos, electrical methods, and technological analysis) rather than of rationality and indeterminacy. Virtuality is the primary perspective in this book’s comprehensive study of GSE. The book concludes with an integrated explanation of GSE coordination made possible through ICT connectivity and capitalization.

Gamel O. Wiredu is Associate Professor of Information Systems at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. He holds PhD and MSc degrees in Information Systems from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United Kingdom. He also holds a BSc degree in Planning from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. His research interests are in the relationship between information technology and organizations, specifically in virtual teamwork, digital platforms, and ubiquitous computing. He is the author of Mobile Computer Usability: An Organizational Personality Perspective (Springer: Berlin). His other research has been published in international journals such as Information Systems Journal, European Journal of Information Systems, Information and Organization, Information Technology and People, African Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Global Information Management, Cognition Technology and Work, and Journal of Education and Work. He can be reached at gwiredu@gimpa.edu.gh